Tips
Growing on a Budget
How to produce 1.5 pounds of medicine in a 3 ’ x 3 ’ space . by Jason Mispagel , contributing writer
Jason Mispagel is the co-owner and operator of Year-Round Garden , a grower ’ s supply center serving both home and commercial customers since 2016 . His extensive growing experience in both hydroponics and soil dates to the early days of legalization in Colorado , where he served as one of the state ’ s early caregivers . Year-Round Garden . 816.216.6917 – 1225 W 103rd St , Kansas City , MO . FB : yrroundgarden ● IG : @ yrroundgarden
As cannabis continues to gain cultural acceptance throughout the country , it ’ s becoming much easier for novice cultivators to find the resources they need to set up their first grow . Whether it ’ s through websites , social media , YouTube videos , a local grow shop , or even this magazine ( check out the November 2019 and July 2020 issues for a couple of great articles on getting started ), there ’ s no shortage of content readily available to help someone get up and running .
But with so many different growing methodologies , lighting styles , nutrient lines , etc ., trying to determine the cost of producing your own medicine can become challenging . It can also become frightening if you begin comparing your home production to that of larger-scale facilities or experienced growers who are precisely dialing in their gardens and trying to maximize plant yield at a commercial scale .
If you ’ re like most people , you don ’ t have an unlimited budget , and you ’ re not a commercial facility . You must put food on the table , pay your utilities , mortgage , rent — the list goes on . So , how much can you expect to produce on a budget ? To answer that question , we need to start by identifying the basic equipment a first-time grower needs to give them a reasonable shot at success .
The Basic Gear
When I say basic , I truly mean BASIC . There are so many ways to grow cannabis , and I ’ m certain that many who are reading this article right now have strong opinions about their preferred methodology . With that being said , we need to start somewhere to create a baseline for the cost of equipment . We also need to make a few assumptions , or this could end up being a 1,000-page book instead of a 1,000- word article . Let ’ s assume you are growing in a climate-controlled space with temperatures maintained between 60F and 90F , humidity between 40 % and 70 %, and access to clean water . You are growing a photoperiod variety that goes through two weeks of propagation / seed sprouting , four weeks of vegetative growth , and eight weeks of flowering ( 14 weeks from seed to harvest ).
Grow Tent
To keep your plants separated from the environment around them and keep clean-up at a minimum , we recommend investing in a grow tent . This also makes it easy to mount lighting and fans and offers some protection from outside pests and pathogens . Product : MarsHydro ( 3 ’ x 3 ’ x 6 ’) Grow Tent . MSRP : $ 103.99
For less than $ 500 of initial investment , you can produce 1.5 pounds of medicine in a 3 ’ x 3 ’ space ►